Going Home [Party on the Prairie 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Redrae Gunn

  Rock held up his hands. “Okay, Gunner, we got it.”

  “You’re a commercial pilot?” Kira asked, looking at Rock.

  “A commercial pilot means that Rock is able to accept compensation for flights, unlike a private pilot,” Gunner continued.

  “Okay, Gunner,” Rock repeated with a little more force.

  “What type of plane do you own?” Kira asked Rock.

  “Rock owns a 172 Cessna Skyhawk,” Gunner said.

  “Gunner, control-alt-delete dude,” Rock said. His commanding voice surfaced and rattled the doors on the cupboards. “Frickin’ system shut down. Code red. Warning, top secret clearance required. Something!”

  Kira touched Gunner’s arm. “Want something to drink? Water?”

  “Blackberry brandy,” Gunner said.

  Kira poured him a small glass and then heard the alarm beeping on her weather alert radio. She went into the living room and listened to the alert. There was a winter storm advisory for the next day, a storm warning after that, and then a blizzard warning. Estimated accumulations were over thirty six inches due to the slow-moving system.

  When Kira came back to the kitchen, she told the others what she had heard on the alert.

  Gunner stood to leave and before he made his way out of the door, without saying goodbye, Kira caught his arm and made sure that he had all of his necessary provisions. Gunner said he had all that he needed and smiled his Alien smile before he left the house.

  Kira turned toward Rock and smiled.

  Rock pulled a plastic bag from his lap and set it on the table. He pulled out a Santa hat and Christmas socks, both with dangling little bells on them. He followed up with a red, laced thong that had big silver bells on the hips. “I believe that a certain elf needs to put up her Christmas tree.” Rock grinned as Kira flushed and sighed.

  Kira went to grab the socks, hat, and thong off of the island but Rock stopped her. “You can change right here, little elf,” he said, smiling wickedly. “We missed lunch in town because of your clever detour, so I will prepare our lunch and you will get busy on that tree.”

  Kira giggled as she stripped out of her clothes and put on her elf outfit. “Yes, Master.”

  “Oh yes.” Rock smiled as he looked at Kira in her outfit. He held up his hand for Kira to stay exactly where she was. He pulled out a jewelry box and slid it to Kira.

  “On my ears?” Kira asked as she pulled the dangling jingle bells from the case. They were clip on earrings.

  “Not on your ears,” Rock said.

  “What?”

  “Come here little elf,” Rock said and he pointed three fingers to a place on the floor that was between his knees. “Walmart doesn’t exactly sell what I needed so we are improvising.”

  When Kira stood before him, Rock sucked deeply on each nipple and then placed the tight earing over the hardened nub. Kira squirmed, tried to pull away from the pain, and finally frowned at him. Rock looked at the goose bumps forming over Kira’s breasts. Her arms were full of them, too. She was definitely feeling the pain from the mild clamps. She was also a little furious and still submitting. That was the perfect combination.

  “If the nipple clamps fall off, they can stay off,” Rock said. “You can’t pull them off, they have to shake off.”

  Kira shook her torso and stopped. “That hurts,” she whispered, resisting the urge to rub her nipples.

  “If I don’t find your tree acceptable for Christmas”—Rock tapped Kira on her nose—”you will have to decorate a real evergreen and you will wear this outfit again.”

  Kira went to stomp out of the kitchen but Rock’s hand on her bicep pulled her back. He looked at her eyes and waited.

  “As Master wishes,” Kira said through clenched teeth as the earring tugged on her.

  Rock released her arm and laughed. “I’ll let that slide as long as I hear jingle bells while I prepare lunch.”

  Thirty seconds later Rock yelled. “I don’t hear bells, little elf.”

  Kira jumped up and down. Rock laughed. Kira started swearing. Rock laughed harder.

  “I love the sounds of the season,” Rock called, smugly satisfied.

  Chapter 5

  Rock lay awake in his bed upstairs. He had been surprised by the way that the silver and red ornaments had taken over the black tree, complete with red and white lights. The tinsel had added the finishing touch to the Christmas tree, and Rock had to agree, it was one of the most beautiful trees he had seen.

  Kira had finally gotten the earrings to release from her nipples, after much jumping, yelling, and swearing. Then she had finished the evening meal, not speaking to Rock, of course. She still wore the rest of her elf outfit but the minute that he released her of elf duty she stomped off and hadn’t emerged from her room. That was something else that they would need to work on.

  Rock knew that this was not the way the night was supposed to go. They were going to have drinks in the Jacuzzi. So he waited. If this was the submissive that he needed she would…

  “Rock?” Kira knocked on the closed door of her old room.

  Rock grinned. “What?” Rock acted like he couldn’t hear her.

  “Rock!” Kira yelled.

  “What?” he repeated, feigning deafness.

  “Master?” Kira said softly and gasped as the door opened in front of her.

  “Yes, Kira?”

  “Are we still going to have drinks in the Jacuzzi?” Kira asked.

  Rock smiled at the innocent and hopeful look on Kira’s face. She was still wearing her elf outfit, minus the nipple clamps. He found his control, his strength, and said that he would be down in a couple of minutes. When Kira grinned and ran down the stairs giggling, Rock pressed both hands to his chest. How did this woman exist? Here? In the home that he was renting?

  Rock smiled as he rubbed the stubble on his jaw. He still had training to do. He didn’t tolerate snobby or sassy. He had given her a little latitude earlier with the mumbling about the improvised clamps. She also wasn’t familiar with his particular hand signals and they hadn’t discussed her extremely independent streak. Rock liked to be relied upon. He would need Kira to rely upon him more than just in the bedroom.

  Rock headed downstairs. The few times that he’d had a submissive had been great. It gave him the control that he loved. Having someone that wanted to please him in every way did something to the inside of him. It made him want to give back to them in every way that he could. It was almost as if having control allowed him to show his love. He wondered if Kira could really give up enough control that it would force his heart to open.

  An extremely loud telephone was ringing in the kitchen and Rock was nearly plowed over by Kira running around the island to get the landline. In the two weeks that Rock had lived with Kira he had never once heard that phone ring. He hadn’t even known that she had a land line, and by the way she had moved the coffee maker out of the way, she didn’t use it often.

  “Knudson’s,” Kira answered. She bit her lip and looked at Rock as she listened to the man on the other end of the phone. “How many tines are off the bucket? It’s the little bucket right?”

  Rock noticed the way that Kira’s posture had changed. She had been anticipating drinks and a relaxing night in the Jacuzzi. Now it appeared that she was no longer expecting those things.

  “Is it on the tractor?” Kira asked. Pause. “No, just back up to the shed.” Another pause. “I wouldn’t take your money anyway.” Kira laughed. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Another pause. “Walleye will work.” Pause. “Yes, you can clean them here. Just get here before it snows because if I have to pull you out of a ditch I’ll add a wild turkey to the fee.”

  Rock smiled as Kira hung up the phone.

  “I’m sorry,” Kira said as she faced Rock. “Old fart that lives about five miles away broke two tines off the bucket of his tractor. He has to feed the livestock and isn’t sure that the other two will hold lifting the hay bales through the blizzard.”
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br />   Rock gripped Kira’s chin as she looked at her feet.

  “Are you upset?” Kira asked searching his eyes for disappointment and not finding any. “I would say no but he won’t get it fixed before the blizzard. There’s not a bunch of welders running around looking for business right now and he doesn’t have the money to pay anyone.”

  “I would’ve been upset if you would’ve said no to him,” Rock said.

  A smile slowly formed on Kira’s lips. “We are getting two freshly caught fish out of the deal.” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “You better go change or he may just have a stroke before he gets the fish cleaned,” Rock suggested as he pointedly looked at Kira’s nearly nude body. He laughed when she gasped and went running for her bedroom, jingling all the way.

  * * * *

  Twenty minutes later Kira was attaching clamps to the bucket in the back of Miles’ dilapidated truck. Rock wondered if maybe Kira shouldn’t do some welding on the rusted truck while it was here. Rock and Miles yapped away while Kira pulled the bucket out of the truck with her hoist and maneuvered the bucket into the middle of her shop with the electric controls.

  “Get it out of here,” she yelled at Miles while pointing at his truck. “Fill up that piece of shit at the pumps, you’re almost on walk.”

  “That’s our signal,” Miles said as he hopped in the truck. He reached across the cab and opened the door for Rock to join him.

  Rock got in the passenger side and Miles pulled up to Kira’s gas tank. He turned on the pump and filled his truck then drove back to the house.

  As Rock let Miles into the house, he glanced back at the shop. The large doors had already closed and a strobe-like flash could be seen through the top of the shop windows. Rock watched as the snow reflected the flashes back into the sky, lighting the bottoms of the low clouds. He grinned as his previously nude elf was now in full leather, welding a farmer’s livelihood back together, for the price of two fish, which didn’t begin to cover the twenty gallons of fuel the farmer had just poured into his gas tank.

  Rock noticed that Miles knew right where the cutting board was as he started cleaning the two fish as soon as he shrugged off his jacket.

  Rock helped himself to a beer, cracked one for Miles, and then Rock sat at the island while Miles started to talk.

  “I’m glad Kira’s got someone out here. I heard she was renting out a room. You look like a nice young man,” Miles began.

  “Not that young,” Rock said as he rubbed his silvering goatee.

  “I remember when Karla came home with Kira,” Miles said. “Karla was home long enough to tell her daddy that she was running into town and would be right back. Girl never came back. Kira was barely walking. Filthy. No extra clothes. Karl, Kira’s grandpa, called us up and asked if we still had any baby clothes.”

  “Did Karl ever think about giving her up?” Rock asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Miles asked. “That girl called him papa and it was over. Kira is so much like her granddad it’s pathetic. They were like two peas in a pod. Never invaded each other’s space. Kira listened. She learned from her pops. I think she was welding by ten, took over the chores of the house early. She was good for Karl and he was good for her.”

  “Does anyone know what happened to Kira’s mom?” Rock asked.

  “Have you met Gunner?” Miles asked and continued without letting Rock answer. “Karl is, or rather was, real good friends with that computer geek Gunner, up on the hill. Gunner was supposed to try to track down Kira’s mom. That skinny nerd could find out anything about anybody but he can’t find Kira’s mom. Not one word about her. He thinks that she may have ended up a Jane Doe somewhere.”

  “That’s kind of sad,” Rock said. “No one knows who her dad is?”

  “Birth certificate was empty,” Miles shook his head as he placed the fish in a ziplock bag and stuck them in the fridge. “Karl told me once that he had doubted if Karla had even known who the father was. But that Kira was the light in Karl’s life. Spunky, too. He told me once that after college she had a bunch of lady friends over and they did this full moon ceremony in the front yard, banging drums, chanting, dancing naked under the full moon.”

  Miles laughed as he coughed. Then he continued. “I guess Karl said he didn’t think it was appropriate for seven young women to be dancing naked in his front yard. Mind you they were also intoxicated, but being women, they were enjoying together time in whatever crazy way that women share their time together. Anyway, Karl confronted Kira about the lewd display and she said that he could either join them nude, ignore them and go to bed, or enjoy the view.”

  Rock laughed about that. The little that he knew of Kira had told him that she had met her best friends during and after college. Her acquaintances before college really didn’t matter to her very much unless they were family or old neighbors.

  “Is the men’s bathroom still down the hall?” Miles asked pointing into Kira’s side of the house.

  “No sir,” Rock replied and pointed to the bathroom right off of the dining room. “That is now the men’s room.”

  “Figured as much.” Miles grunted. “May I?”

  “Be my guest,” Rock said and he strolled into the living room and looked out at the shop. Lightning was still flying from the windows so Rock knew that Kira was still hard at work. The swelling in his chest was pride. He knew that. The door to the bathroom opened and Rock was pulled back into the room as Miles came over and looked at the tree.

  “Now that is a Kira tree,” Miles said looking at the black tree. “That is a Kira tree if I have ever seen one. It is beautiful.” He looked down and picked up something off of the ground and handed it to Rock. “She dropped her earrings.”

  Rock held out his hand and felt a smirk tug at his lips as Miles handed him the jingly ornaments that earlier in the day had been used as torturous nipple clamps.

  “Ah, her music is back,” Miles said as he looked at the covered speakers. “She had some of the weirdest, yet most soothing music I’ve ever heard. Do you think she’d mind if we listened?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t played with her stuff,” Rock said and then nearly choked as he recalled making Kira have an orgasm with his hand.

  “Oh, she showed me how to turn it on,” Miles said as he started to power up the stereo system.

  Rock excused himself to use the bathroom while he actually went outside and bellowed out his laughter. This old man was too much. Kira helping out the old man was too much. She was actually a good person who helped people. She was abandoned so young, yet found her grandpa, and after everyone in both of their lives had left them, she returned home, to let him leave her, too, in peace. That showed the strength of a saint.

  Rock came back inside and heard the deep sounds of the gothic music flowing from the living room. The tree was lit and the living room was cozy. Rock sat at the kitchen island and wondered how fate had turned his way. He contemplated all of the good and bad times in his life.

  Rock’s thoughts turned to his sons and how his eldest son, Tyler, would be disappointed that Rock had turned back to being the Master that Tyler couldn’t relate to and would never understand. He thought of all the wasted years and deception that had befallen him because of Tyler and his equally deceptive mother that Rock had thankfully never married.

  Rock’s thoughts then strayed to his younger son. His pride and joy. The little man who always had his back. The little man who grew up to be understanding, caring and fiercely loyal especially after Rock had fought the court system against his crackhead, cheating ex-wife to get sole custody. Seth was a good man, a fine young man, but even his loyalty to his father couldn’t suppress the surprise when Rock had confessed that he wanted a submissive and what that entailed.

  Rock thought about Kira and what she would think of his kids, grown and having kids of their own when she hadn’t even been married. Rock had two kids with two different women. It was certainly something that he needed to tell her before he a
llowed the relationship to progress unless it was something that she already knew from Gunner. Even then, he knew he needed to talk to her about it.

  Rock had nearly dozed off when he heard a truck start in the driveway. He went to the sliding doors and watched Kira as she backed Mile’s truck into the shop, maneuvered the repaired bucket into the box of the truck, locked up her shop, and drove the truck back to the front of the house.

  Rock helped Miles to the door as Miles thanked Kira. The snow was starting to fall so Kira got him on the road as soon as possible and then she went back into the house.

  * * * *

  “Sorry,” Kira said to Rock the minute that she locked the door behind her. She shrugged off her coat and pulled off her boots. “He’s almost like family.”

  Rock pulled a bottle of wine from the shared fridge and Kira laughed.

  “I still want my Jacuzzi time,” Rock said.

  “Yesssss,” Kira hissed as she grabbed the bottle of wine and chugged a swig while skipping down the hallway to her bedroom. She stripped quickly and stepped into the bathroom. The ice in the bucket she had filled earlier was fresh, the water in the Jacuzzi was steaming, and there was a crystal wineglass on the side of the tub for her.

  “I kept everything ready for you,” Rock said softly. The tears in her eyes nearly melted his heart.

  “Thank you,” Kira said as she hugged Rock tightly. “I had wanted to do this for you though. I wanted it to be perfect.”

  “It is,” Rock said firmly. “Now please, rinse first, you smell like molten metal.”